Articles by Maddy Osman

Maddy Osman creates engaging content with SEO best practices for marketing thought leaders and agencies that have their hands full with clients and projects. Learn more about her process and experience on her website, www.The-Blogsmith.com and read her latest articles on Twitter: @MaddyOsman.

There’s a goal behind every website, and a specific chain of events that must occur before each goal is accomplished. Whether you want someone to sign up for your email newsletter, or fill out a contact form, these things don’t happen without the proper triggers. Used strategically, WordPress plugins can assist with the realization of important goals. Here’s how to turn your website into a conversion machine with WordPress Plugins. Essential Grid ... Essential Grid is an all-around grid solution...

When developer websites for clients, it’s important to proactively anticipate needs, instead of waiting for things to come up after a design is underway. On a larger scale, this involves a client onboarding strategy that asks questions like: Are you targeting a B2B or B2C audience? Will your website need a blog? Will your website need any e-commerce functionality? Once you’ve answered these big questions, it’s necessary to change your focus to the smaller things that make up a complete website....

Google AMP (accelerated mobile pages) is an open source initiative supported by large tech companies and developers around the world, including Google, Twitter, Reddit and LinkedIn. The project was created with the purpose of making websites and ads load faster and more beautifully on mobile. As such, it doesn’t support the use of popups or other interstitials. Although the amount of mobile search activity is constantly increasing, interaction with the mobile web is significantly less than...

CSS rules were made to be broken, or at least that’s the idea behind !important. !important is a CSS rule that makes it possible to override other previous styles spread across multiple style sheets. !important essentially defines something as important (imagine that!), ignoring subsequent/conflicting rules. It makes the CSS style with the !important designation the one that counts most, nullifying any others. Essentially, it gives a CSS value more weight than it otherwise would normally...

Before digging into code, it’s important to create a plan of action that all parties are satisfied with. A mockup, or wireframe, is an easy vehicle for sharing a basic design with anyone involved with design decision making for a web or app development project. When you hear the word “wireframe,” an image of eyeglasses with a metal frame might come to mind. It might seem cheesy, but a wireframe is similar to a pair of glasses in the way that it allows you to see clearly. Before you can add on a good pair...

After ensuring a successful launch, most WordPress developers take a step back and look on to their next project. But constantly chasing new projects results in an uneven cash flow that means some months are better than others. What developers sometimes fail to realize are the benefits of working with web development clients on a continuous basis to maintain their WordPress website, even after the initial project has been completed. Sell clients into working with you on a regular basis by reminding...

Oftentimes, setting up a WordPress website results in a haphazard scramble to configure enough of the right plugins to make the client happy, and address any specific needs they might have mentioned. But a failure to install certain plugins means the client will come back at you with questions as to why it wasn’t done in the first place. Though you’re probably happy to rectify the problem (and collect a little extra money on the project), going back in to install plugins can distract from more profitable...

WordPress beginners have difficulty customizing their websites past simple text changes, especially if they have no background knowledge of HTML or CSS. WordPress page builder plugins allow just about anyone to build a stylish or professional looking web page, through a user-friendly interface - quickly, and without knowing HTML or CSS. Though it may seem like WordPress page builder plugins have usefulness mainly for the technically unsavvy, they can also make a WordPress developer’s job...

DeveloperDrive.com is a blog about web development from the makers of the popular web design blog WebdesignerDepot.com
Founded in 2011, we focus on the latest trends, tutorials, opinion articles as well as tips and tricks to empower our readers to become better web developers.